Fabian Cousteau - A Phony? I think he is disgracing the family name!

Wayne at DiveSeekers · Jul 2, 2014

Disgusting! Please watch this video "a painting lesson 63' under the sea", go to Mission 31 FB page or anywhere else you can and voice your opinion on this. So much for Fabian Cousteau being a conservationist, environmentalist, what ever you want to call him! This is BS that these divers are kneeling and standing on our reefs. With more and more divers every year, it's divers that have a big effect on our reefs and this video is an example of it. Divers need Buoyancy Control and situational awareness. We are spectators in the underwater world, let's respect it! Fabian should be appalled see this, but no, he is smiling, doing interviews and seams proud of his work. What a fake, just a media hound making money off of the family name!

Disgusting! So much for research and protecting the reef! Thanks for promoting this behavior Fabien!

Surprised I didn't see (unless I missed it) more of a response here! I don't think I'm off base, what do you think?

Rich Keller · Jul 2, 2014

He is not disgracing the family name! His grandfather used explosives to blow up part of the reef around the blue hole in the Bahamas just for a photo op to show Calypso floating in the middle of the thing! He may not be much but he is a VAST improvement over his grandfather. There is a reason they no longer broadcast his old shows, if you saw them now you would be ripping apart just about every aspect of how they ran their diving operations.

knotical · Jul 2, 2014

Well, this article: Cousteau?s Underwater Visitors Include Painter « CBS Miami said he used environmentally friendly paint.

kelemvor · Jul 2, 2014

He'll never live up to the Cousteau family name without some dynamite or C4. Merely kneeling on the reef and painting? He's a shadow of his predecessors.

ScubaGypsy · Jul 2, 2014

I've been following this story as well as others over the years, including his fathers (Jean-Michel), sister (Celine), cousins (Alexandra and Philippe) and half-siblings (Diane and Pierre-Yves). Everyone of them that has a Cousteau last name is continuing to exploit that name. These stunts and stand-ins are all in the name of environmental conservatism and activism but in fact these are stunts to gain corporation sponsorships (and thus, personal income without really working) as the corporations that provide the highly-publicized support are looking at anything Cousteau as part of an environmental cause and thus, a "green" positive image. Just sad in all aspects.

freewillie · Jul 2, 2014

I might be missing something, but he seems to be kneeling on a sandy bottom with rocks as the reef. It's not like he is sitting on top of delicate coral breaking of large portions of fan, stag horn coral formations.

matt_w · Jul 2, 2014

That whole story is so weird. He is beating his grandfathers record. Just his grandfathers personal record, 30 days under water is not any kind of actual record (or even close to it). The people kneeling and standing on the rocks could probably try a little harder, but I suspect the area around that habitat is pretty barren (it certainly appears to be). Should they set a better example? Yes. Is it the end of the world, probably not. I am not sure why they couldn't just find a sandy clearing...

GrimSleeper · Jul 3, 2014

The whole family - from Jacques on down - have always been self-publicists with little meaningful interest in the marine world. The regard the Cousteau name is held in baffles me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD, so probably misspelt

Oldbear · Jul 3, 2014

So I watched the video and ....well it did little for me. Neither getting angrily excited nor jumping with environmental conservation joy.

mjh · Jul 3, 2014

Sadly the family does seem more intent on making money from the family name vs. doing true environmental work. To some degree you can excuse Jacque, especially in the beginning, as it was a "different time". But without a doubt those of us who consider ourselves "reef friendly" cringe at what the crew of the Calypso was out there doing. For me the importance of Jacques and company was they sparked a fascination for the ocean that lives on today. For many of us it has evolved from just wanting to explore to conserve and that is what I see Jacques Yves Cousteau's legacy being.

Fabian Cousteau - A Phony? I think he is disgracing the family name!

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Wayne at DiveSeekers

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